The holy grail of tomatoes

Adrian Higgins / The Washington Post /

Published Jan 24, 2012 at 04:00AM / Updated Nov 19, 2013 at 12:31AM

WASHINGTON — Political punditry has its place, but the breathless and incessant chatter about the presidential race can become wearisome, even in Washington. Tomatoes, on the other hand — that’s a topic that transcends tedium.

Readers bear me out here. When I’ve written about tomatoes in the past, I heard from many home gardeners nodding in basic agreement with my premise: Brandywine and other large heirlooms are fine old varieties, but the payoff is often not worth the work.

Antique beefsteaks produce relatively few fruit that are slow to mature. The length of time between starting the seedlings in February, setting them out in late April and harvesting them in August and September makes them vulnerable to all the stresses of their brief life: heat, drought, flood and disease.

Better, I argue, to grow a more pedestrian hybrid that will fruit earlier, and be reliably healthy and extravagantly productive.

She also put me on to varieties that are now on my shortlist for this year: Moonglow, which she says is large, flavorful and crack resistant (a problem in a wet year like 2011), and Tangerine.

For Barry Perlow, a landscape designer at Meadow Farms Nurseries in Chantilly, Va., the trail to the tomato grail leads to his native southern New Jersey, where market gardeners have been working with experts at Rutgers University to identify bulletproof hybrids with that elusive taste called Jersey flavor.

“It’s a cross between sweet and tart,” he said, “a rich, full flavor.”

The poster child of the quest for the Jersey Tomato is Ramapo, introduced in the late 1960s but lost to cultivation until its champions at Rutgers brought it back into play through detective work and skillful breeding. The tomato is a classic red slicer, neither big nor small but plentiful and flavorful on a vigorous vine.

Perlow told me to call Ken Harris, a market gardener and nurseryman in Salem, N.J. Harris, of Marlboro Farm Markets, has been growing Ramapo both for his farm stands and to sell transplants to home gardeners in the spring. “It had that traditional old flavor, good acid-sugar ratio and texture,” he said. “Lots of juice and gel and yet it was firm enough to slice.” It was too thin-skinned to ship in a box, so commercial growers moved on.

After it was made available again, the folks at Rutgers surveyed about 1,200 home gardeners who grew the variety and asked if they planned to grow it again. More than 1,000 said they would, a pretty convincing vote of confidence.

Here’s the rub. A crop failure has made seeds scarce in 2012. Rutgers’ Jack Rabin hopes to have seeds available in April, a little late for seed-starting but not too late for gardeners in regions where seeds can be sown directly in May or where seedlings can be put in a month later and for a late summer harvest rather than late July and August.

For updates and availability information, e-mail Ramapotomatonjaes.rutgers.edu and put in the subject line: “2012 Ramapo waiting list for Home Gardeners.”

The good news is that a similar variety named Moreton should be available by next month, said Rabin. Moreton is a little earlier in the season and may need feeding a little more than Ramapo. “I would heartily recommend folks try it if they are an old Jersey variety lover,” he said.

Top performers

It’s clear that Rabin and his colleague take tomato inquiry seriously: They tested 145 mostly heirloom varieties over five years, and from that chose what they consider the 15 best:

These lists and recommendations are sound, but the truest test of a tomato variety is for you to grow it and see how it does in your soils, microclimate and preferred methods of cultivation. Recognize that no two seasons are alike and some years are better than others.

Connect with The Bulletin

Popular stories for News

A Crook County Grand Jury on Thursday indicted a Prineville man who allegedly sexually abused several teenage males on 30 charges including sodomy, sex abuse and encouraging child sex abuse. Leo Carl Novak, 63, originally faced two counts of third-degree sex abuse and two counts of third-degree sodomy for alleged incidents involving two Crook County brothers, according to Ron Brown, the county's chief deputy district…
... more

FRESNO, Calif. — Federal law now allows visitors to carry guns in national parks, but you can’t just slip a loaded pistol into your backpack and take a hike. Pay attention, because this is a little complicated. You will need a concealed weapons permit to carry the loaded gun in the backpack. But you don’t need any kind of permit if you just want to…
... more

Reporter’s prelude: This past winter, I had so much fun trying out and writing about Central Oregon’s popular snow sports that The Bulletin decided to bring back a similar series for this summer. Join me as I explore a number of the region’s cherished summer sports and recreational activities. This week, I try swimming. Even though Central Oregon is considered the high desert, the region…
... more

A few weeks ago, a reader sent me an eloquent email complaining about a story in which I'd suggested paddling on the northern branch of Sparks Lake as an alternative to more crowded portions of the popular lake. The writer said that over the decades, he'd seen Central Oregon “loved to death. ” Now, powder is tracked out in 30 minutes, Sparks Lake is always…
... more

Move over, large lap pools. Smaller swimming holes are making a big splash. Sure, the economy is playing a role in making this luxury littler: Smaller pool equals smaller budget. But it's more than that, says Brett Berry, owner of Landscape Renderings, a Missouri business that designs and builds outdoor living environments. “You can create a fantastic sense of intimacy and atmosphere with a small…
... more